Sorry about the stupid questions, have done some research and answered a few of them myself.
Sooo, you can obviously check the valve clearances without removing the intake and or exhaust manifolds as they should be set hot, I'm going to check them cold and aim for I/E of 10/13 thou to get her started and then dial it in once the engine is hot (8/10 i believe), does that sound about right? It didn't have a battery and I'm having trouble finding a 6v starter battery so it looks like I'll need to wait until Tuesday (Monday is one of our queens many Birthdays, why we don't send her packing and become a republic is beyond me)

Can you replace the body mounts by just unscrewing the bolts and nuts and jacking the car body up a couple inches?
I heard the open cars don't have rubber body mount because of the extra flexing of a convertible body.

I ran into a problem when I installed the pivot bars in the control arms. The manual said to torque the Upper control arm bushings to 120 foot pounds. I did that with much effort, but then the pivot bar would not rotate. So I had to back off the bushings until there was some play. Then I assembled the lower control arm and tried to torque the bushings to 160 ft. lbs. I could only get to 130 ft. lbs though.

So far I'm using the stock (rebuilt it about 2 weeks ago) and so far all seems OK after bleeding everything. I put new lines everywhere and new rear slave cylinders. I have plenty of pedal pressure, but once I get on the road, I'll have a better idea. If I need to change, I think i'll go with passing a rod thur the old one to push the new master cylinder mounted behind it.

Hey forum friends. After several weeks of works, lots a new parts, and some advice from you all I got my 54 Dodge Meadowbrook out of the garage and on the road today. First time the car has been driven in many years.

1951 Cranbrook 218cid
Been noticing a coolant smell on startup, especially after sitting for awhile, along with my radiator not staying full (below the core instead of just above) and temp running a little hotter than I would like.
Plan on taking the head off this winter and see what I find. Noticed 2 types of gaskets are available - Fel-Pro "copper faced" and Mahle "composite". Any preferences on which one to get?
When the engine was rebuilt it was a Fel-Pro gasket set so I guessing a "copper" one was put in then.

I didn't need spacers and I used the same wheel I got with car in 1968 so I assume they are original. I think the difference is that I bought mine from someone who decided to go with the the whole ECI setup. My calipers were S10 FWD no issues and I just did them in April.